Essence
by Ma'echii
Summary: Mulder, Nightmare. Nuff said.


Title: Essence  
  
Author: Ma'echii'  
  
E-Mail address: erinpiperdane@hotmail.com  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Category: MSR Vignette Angst  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Keywords:   
  
Summary: Mulder, Nightmare. Nuff said.   
  
Notes: Just a little ditty written on the fly at Mulder's   
  
Refuge for Xtreme Unction  
  
Beta: None  
  
Heat radiated from a darkened room, the combination of the   
  
summer weather and a broken AC, broached no relief from   
  
that heat, not even a breeze through the open window.   
  
A huddled form lay in one corner of a large bed. Another   
  
slouched in the chair beside it.  
  
A dim grey light came in from the window and stretched   
  
across the rumpled bedclothes, just touching the edges of   
  
the form with vestigial fingers, revealing only the back of   
  
a dark-haired head, the curved shape of a bared, long leg   
  
and the elegant curve of a large, narrow foot.  
  
The gentle fluttering sound of a box fan came from one side   
  
of the room, but the contraption only served to shove   
  
around the hot, dank air.  
  
The form abruptly thrashed in the tangled bedclothes,   
  
fighting dreams trapped by sleep, and turned to face the   
  
window. The dim light now revealed a decidedly male face,   
  
yet boyish in his slumber, despite the distress marring his   
  
unbalanced yet attractive features. He moaned and huddled   
  
in on himself, shivering. Cold sweat beading his brow, his   
  
moans and cries now increasing in clarity and volume.   
  
"No! Please, no! No more! Please!" He writhed about,   
  
fighting off an ethereal entity with flailing arms and   
  
churning legs. He gasped, throwing his arms over his head   
  
and curling in on himself.   
  
A yelping shriek pierced the dank night air as he suddenly   
  
arched back, then immediately hunched forward again,   
  
snapping his legs protectively up to his chin, his arms   
  
still over his head. "Sculleeeee!!"  
  
The figure in the chair bolted upright at the cry, slightly   
  
dazed, shaking off the vestiges of sleep, yet immediately   
  
rose and sat on the bed with the man.  
  
Hands reached for him, fingers just barely brushing the   
  
thin shirt on his back before he arched away. "No!   
  
Sculleee, help me, please!" Hot tears squeaked out from   
  
tightly closed lids and he whimpered, his voice a heart-  
  
rending, yet quiet cry of despair and desperation.   
  
"Scully....why aren't you coming for me?......Don't leave   
  
me?"   
  
He rolled back over, still huddled in on himself, facing   
  
the figure from the chair, it's identity yet not revealed.  
  
Hands touched his face and he moaned and shied away, trying   
  
to escape, even in his restless slumber. "No! Sculleee!"  
  
"Shhh, Mulder," came a soothing female alto, as she brushed   
  
her fingers through his hair and leaned forward. The   
  
reaching light now disclosed a pale roundish face, large,   
  
moist eyes and a flash of red at her brow. For all   
  
appearances she was young, but the expression in her eyes   
  
and her demeanor clearly spelled out otherwise. "It's ok.   
  
Wake up, Mulder. I'm here."   
  
"Sculleee," he cried again, his whimpering becoming   
  
hitched, gulping breathes, his tears running sporadic   
  
trails down the sides of his face and into his hair,   
  
dampening the pillow beneath his head.  
  
Scully crawled into the bed with him, tucking her legs   
  
underneath her and pressing herself into his side, as she   
  
pushed and turned him onto his back, forcing his arms and   
  
legs to unclamp. She took his face in both of her hands,   
  
her fingers threading in the hair at his temples. She   
  
leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the side of his   
  
mouth. "I'm here, Mulder. It's ok. It's just a dream now.   
  
Please wake up."  
  
At her more intimate touch, Mulder gasped and arched off   
  
the bed, nearly bolting upright. His eyes popped open, wild   
  
and staring into the dimly lighted room. "Scully?" he asked   
  
breathlessly.  
  
"I'm here, Mulder," she murmured beside him, one arm now   
  
stretched across his torso, her palm spread over his T-  
  
shirt covered chest, her other arm now propping herself up   
  
to peer closely into his face. When he didn't respond, she   
  
addressed him again. "Mulder."  
  
His head snapped over to face her, his eyes wide, his   
  
expression clearly seen in the light coming in from the   
  
window and now shining on his face. A gamut of emotions   
  
played across his features. Terror turning to trembling   
  
distress, total bemusement to disbelief, then to a slow   
  
dawning realization at where he was and who he was with.   
  
"Scully?" He barely spoke her name, as if by it's very   
  
utterance she would disappear.  
  
"Yes, Mulder, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. You were   
  
having a nightmare."  
  
He gaped at her for some moments, then his breath hitched   
  
and he gulped, his face twisting with painful relief. He   
  
threw his arms around her, crushing her to him, sobs   
  
wracking his lean frame. "Oh, god, Scully!"  
  
"It's ok. I'm here," she soothed, rubbing his back with   
  
both hands in gentling circles. "You're back home, in your   
  
own bed."   
  
"Why did she do it?' he choked on a sob, gripping her with   
  
a fierceness that bordered on the painful. He gulped again   
  
and was sent into a spasm of coughing as he fought to hold   
  
back his cries.   
  
Scully pressed her face into the hollow of his neck and   
  
murmured in his ear. "Mulder, it doesn't matter anymore.   
  
She's gone. She can't hurt you or anyone else ever again."  
  
"What possessed her to commit such atrocities," he went on   
  
in a wail.  
  
She shifted to kiss him behind his ear, one hand coming up   
  
into his hair. "Shhh, Mulder. Easy, settle. It's only a   
  
nightmare now. Shhh." She eased them back to stretch out on   
  
the bed, scooting them over to the unused side of the bed,   
  
pulling out the tangled coverlet from beneath their legs   
  
and draping it over them, sinking into the cool sheets.  
  
They nestled further into each other as his crying slowly   
  
calmed into exhausted whimpers and sighs, then to the   
  
deepening inhale and exhale of a now sheltered, dreamless   
  
sleep.  
  
She listened to him for some minutes as her eyelids drooped   
  
and gradually closed, then finally joining him, in his   
  
deepened slumber.   
  
Then, at last, in the ethereal quiet, save for the   
  
fluttering white noise of the fan, a cooling breeze wafted   
  
through the window on velvet paws, gently kissing their   
  
partially covered forms and ruffling their sweat dampened   
  
hair. Both drew in a deep and slowly released breath and   
  
relaxed even further, as if, even in their sleep, they   
  
could feel the blessed relief of that calming zephyr. 


End file.
